Historically, phosphates have been used as builders for detergents, due to their excellent performance as chelating agents. Phosphates reduce the hardness of water, and disperse food and other organic materials during a washing cycle. However, due to aquatic plant stimulation effects, most jurisdictions have limited or banned the use of phosphates in detergents.
Accordingly, there remains an important need in the art for an improved and effective automatic dishwashing detergent which avoids the use of phosphates.